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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. cold — not warm
  5. present — the time now
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. present — a gift
  8. cold — an illness
  9. land — to come down
  10. rest — a break
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — a leader
  13. wind — moving air
  14. stock — goods
  15. rush — hurry
  16. stock — shares
  17. land — a country
  18. wind — moving air
  19. rest — what's left
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. land — ground
  23. present — there
  24. rest — what's left

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com